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SHIFTING BETWEEN ALTERNATIVE MODES OF COGNITION: CAN FREE ASSOCIATION, IN AND OF ITSELF, PROVE THERAPEUTIC?
1Training and Supervising Analyst at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of California.
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|June 20, 2017
Summary
Free association, a core psychoanalytic technique, is therapeutic in itself. It fosters cognitive flexibility by enabling patients to switch between active and passive thinking modes during treatment.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychoanalysis
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Sigmund Freud recognized the importance of non-directive listening early in his career.
- The fundamental rule of analytic treatment involves free association, encouraging patients to speak freely.
- Freud recommended analysts practice 'evenly suspended attention' during sessions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether free association is inherently therapeutic.
- To explore the mechanism by which free association might exert therapeutic effects.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of psychoanalytic principles and historical clinical observations.
- Conceptual examination of the cognitive processes involved in free association.
Main Results:
- Free association is proposed to be therapeutic in its own right.
- The therapeutic benefit stems from enhancing the patient's ability to shift cognitive modes.
- This shift involves transitioning between active and passive cognitive states.
Conclusions:
- Free association is not merely a tool for data collection but a therapeutic agent.
- Its efficacy is linked to promoting cognitive flexibility and adaptability in patients.
- Further research can explore the clinical implications of this cognitive shift.
Keywords:
Free associationFreudanalytic methodanalytic theoriesfundamental rulemodes of cognitionresistancetherapeutic actionMore Related Videos
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